Fourth and Coast, Stay Seventeen, & Crash the Party @ the Space, Connecticut

Entering the Space, I imagined this is what Jane Goodall felt like at Gombe Stream National Park. Packed with teenage girls, I was an oddity so I took on the role of a scientist. Like Goodall, I tried not to make eye contact at first, just sit back and observe behaviors. I observed plenty of selfies and giggling and also a hovel of parents gathered in the back waiting, watching, looking bored.

Turning my attention back to the teens, the majority of them did not come to see opening band Fourth and Coast. Although the band’s Owl City-meets-Hot Chelle Rae sound appealed to the demographic, there was still an overwhelming amount of teens seated in the back talking, laughing, swooning over band members of the other acts moving in and out of the venue. One strange behavior I did observe, Fourth and Coast left their microphones and sat on the floor and all the teen girls followed. The band played a medley of cover songs on the floor and some of the teen girls sang along. Fascinating indeed.

After the band’s set, more girls seemed to gather near the stage. I could only assume this meant they wanted to see the next act, Stay Seventeen. There was one girl who even seemed to be friends with the band. I decided I should call her Flo. Flo stayed near the front of the stage for the entirety of the Boston band’s set. She seemed to really enjoy the band’s combination of Blink 182-style pop punk and Florida Georgia Line-twang. She took some photos of the band on her iPhone and got a shot of herself standing in front of the stage while the band was playing. She acted like this was a very big deal. intriguing!

In between bands, a pack of teen girls gathered by the door. The lead singer of Stay Seventeen carried his amp past them and one of the girls literally swooned. I decided to name her Gigi. Gigi did not seem to care much about the next act to grace the stage, Crash the Party despite this being a homecoming show for them. The band’s early 2000 pop punk sound did nothing for young Gigi. Surprisingly, she did sing-along when the band played a cover of “Let It Go” from the Disney musical Frozen. Odd.

At this point, an aggressive male father I named Frodo became the alpha male in the room. Fearing for my safety, I left the show before headliner Jennel Garcia took the stage.

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